How to Best Interview When You are Changing Careers

Career Change Interview Preparation Tips

Changing careers is not uncommon. During a career change interview, you need to convince the interviewer that you made the right decision. In a typical interview, employers may be apprehensive about your lack of experience or dedication to a new industry. If you can give the interviewer substantial reasons why your lack of experience doesn’t really matter, your chances of getting hired are much higher.

Before asking for an interview, you need to prepare a strategy that will help you pass the career change interview smoothly and eventually get the job.

Prepare

Before changing careers, most people spend a significant amount of effort and time learning and researching about the job. Asking those who are in the field can help you better understand how to change careers. Maybe your resume mentions that you changed your career in the past. Whether the career change is in the past or current, you need to tell your interviewer your experience and why changing your career is the best choice for your professional future.

Assess Your Skills and Experience

You need to assess the skills you acquired and work you did in your past job. For instance, if you were a supervisor, you possess managerial skills. A lot of skills like data analysis, communication and problem solving may be useful in your new career. Study the description of your desired job and create a list of the corresponding characteristics and skills you currently have. Whether you’ve already established yourself in the job or are currently planning to change career, doing this can help. During a career change interview, you should be ready to talk about how your past experience will help you become successful in your desired job.

Promote Your Capability to Adapt to Change

During an interview, you need to promote your capability to quickly adapt to change. Many employees are not fond of change and employers know that. Adaptable and flexible employees are valued in the labor force. Go to an interview with samples of how you accepted and adapted to change in your previous job. Explain the interviewer the benefits of changing careers. If the change in career happened a few years ago, you should explain the positive sides of changing careers.

Sometimes, people change careers due to outside factors. For instance, dwindling industries and changes in technology can force individuals to change careers to move forward and keep their professional life going. Taking a step backward is something that might be necessary when you change your career.

Accepting a temporary position or moving to a new field is not uncommon. If this is your reason, you need to make sure that the interview knows that your career change was carefully considered. He needs to know that you strongly believe that the result is the best for you. Talking about these things during a career change interview can help the interviewer understand that you’ve done these things consciously while keeping your long-term career growth in mind.

InspiredWork offers career change products that might help you achieve your goals: